Racist discourse in social media: Facebook, a case analysis of Roberto Lozano’s “SOLDADO MICOLTA”

Abstract

This research project seeks to bring to light the problem of racism on social media in Colombia by means of the propagation of inappropriate language. This language has been used to denigrate the Afro-Colombian community in the most offensive way imaginable. The primary focus of this investigation was to analyze the discourse that emerged from social networks, in particular on Facebook, concerning the Soldado Micolta show´s censorship; and, to determine which discourse may be considered racist based on the categorization of the different types of racism, and organized by identifying key patterns present in the comments published by the users of that social network. It was found that a significant number of negative and derisive comments were found within the corpus of discourse pertaining to the show’s censorship, which was due to the different racist manifestations contained in it.The results obtained in this study indicated a significant presence of racist material on the social media platform Facebook, from which discourses were taken and analyzed. These discourses were analyzed for racism, taking into account the views of activist groups, such as the Ray Charrupi Foundation and a considerable number of Colombian Afro-descendents, and their assessment of the comedian and actor, Roberto Lozano, in his comedy, and the way he imitated the way of speaking and acting as a person of Afro-descendant. Thus, this investigation presents a clarification and classification of these discourses published on the days immediately following the news of the Soldado Micolta show´s ban, in order to address and to understand the types of racist discourses published by Facebook users in the face of censorship of the show.